masterofmagicfandomcom-20200216-history
Weapon Immunity
Weapon Immunity is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic. When a unit with Weapon Immunity is subjected to non-magical from Normal Units, its Defense is raised to for the purpose of blocking this . This makes the unit more resilient against most attacks made by such units. There are many effects that can alter a unit's Weapon Quality to allow it to get through Weapon Immunity. Even without these, setting the unit's Defense score to may not be much of an improvement, making this a comparably weak immunity. However, the fact that it scales well with the counts of both the attacker and the defender still makes it quite powerful in the early game. Weapon Immunity is not a very common immunity, but is still possessed by 7 different Fantastic Units, almost all from the . It may also be acquired through the or spells, or the Item Powers of the same name (in the case of Heroes). Description Though cold steel weapons are often dangerous to anyone at the receiving end, the existence of mystical entities and defensive spells will occasionally render simple steel insufficient. Whether a creature is magically protected, or simply is not tangible enough to be hurt by a normal weapon, it will be hard to kill such an opponent without magic of one's own. Creatures with Weapon Immunity therefore hold a serious advantage against "mundane" enemies, taking little or no damage from their attacks. Fortunately, there is more than one method to imbue weapons with magical energy, so that they can hurt their target properly. Effect Weapon Immunity is a passive ability that protects a unit from regular . The majority of Normal Units deliver only this type by default, with no other special properties attached. When such units make a , , or attack against a target possessing Weapon Immunity, the target's Defense score is raised to exactly (if it is lower). This allows the defender to make 10 rolls, nullifying, on average, points of from each attack. is actually a high amount, even compared to the toughest Fantastic Units, but it is not normally enough to block all damage from any serious attack. Many experienced high-tier Normal Units can deliver more than points of per , and can thus get through the Immunity. Still, is better than what most units have by default. Note that the Weapons-Immune unit's score is raised only for the duration of resolving this , and will return to normal immediately afterward. This ability also does not apply at all against , , , or spells of any kind. However, if the attacker is a unit, the increase in does work separately against each individual 's attack. From the Unofficial Patch 1.50 onwards, Weapon Immunity also works against . However, due to a still persitent bug, four generic Normal Units will still ignore it on all of their attacks. These are Triremes, Galleys, Warships, and Catapults. Defeating Weapon Immunity As stated above, Weapon Immunity only triggers against Normal Units - Heroes and Fantastic Units bypass it by default. There are several ways to improve the quality of a Normal Unit's weapons, thus enabling their attacks to ignore Weapon Immunity entirely. Below is a list of effects that will alter a unit's weapons this way: * , , or , which require the Alchemy Retort, or an Alchemists' Guild; * , a Common Unit Enchantment castable both in- and outside of combat; * , an Uncommon Unit Enchantment, also castable both in- and outside of combat; * , a Rare Combat Enchantment that will affect all friendly units; * (Common), or its Global version (Very Rare); * (Uncommon), (Uncommon), and a number of various -related spells and effects (most of which result in creating Undead), which all turn Normal Units into Fantastic Creatures. Note that in all of these cases, the unit is not actually delivering Magical Damage (which would be blocked by Magic Immunity), but rather a special kind of Physical Damage that simply does not trigger the effect of Weapon Immunity. All of these effects apply to every Attack Type that the unit can make. Units with Default Weapon Immunity Weapon Immunity is one of the less-common types of immunities, possessed by exactly 7 different kinds of units by default. All of these are Fantastic Creatures, and most are from the realm: Note that the already has a Defense score of by default, which means that it does not actually benefit from Weapon Immunity. However, if a 's Defense score is ever lowered for any reason, it is speculated that Weapon Immunity would temporarily restore it to whenever it is triggered. Acquiring Weapon Immunity There are several ways to add Weapon Immunity to a unit that does not already have it. This includes: * Casting on the unit. * Casting on the unit. * Equipping a Hero with a Magical Item that contains the or Item Powers. * Casting the spell on Normal Units, turning them into . Each of these methods adds the same kind of Weapon Immunity described above in this article. Invulnerability Unit Enchantment is a Rare Unit Enchantment. When cast on a unit, it will add the Weapon Immunity ability to that unit, as well as another (much more important) effect. When cast on the overland map, has a basic Casting Cost of . It has a lingering effect, so that the targeted unit will keep its Invulnerability effect so long as the spell continues to exist. While it exists, the spell requires an Upkeep Cost of to be paid at the start of each turn. Alternatively, it is possible to cast during combat as an impromptu Unit Enchantment. In this case the spell's basic Casting Cost is reduced to , but its effects will only last until the end of the battle. Since neither the spell nor the effect will carry over to the overland map, there is no associated Upkeep Cost with this version of the spell. Note that a unit with also receives a point reduction from any inflicted on it (with the exception of Doom Damage) - in fact, this is the primary benefit of . Wraith Form Unit Enchantment is another Rare Unit Enchantment. This also combines the Weapon Immunity ability with another effect which, in this case, is the addition of the Non-Corporeal trait to the enchanted unit. When cast on the overland map, has a basic Casting Cost of . It has a lingering effect, so that the targeted unit will keep its Wraith Form effect so long as the spell continues to exist. To stop it from dissipating, the spell requires an Upkeep Cost of to be paid at the start of each turn. Alternatively, it is possible to cast during combat as an impromptu Unit Enchantment as well. In this case the spell's basic Casting Cost is only , but its effect will always end when the battle is finished. As such, this version has no Upkeep Cost either. Item Powers A permanent version of either the or spell effects can be imbued into any Shield, Chainmail, Platemail or Jewelry piece. When a Hero wears this item, he/she receives the Weapon Immunity ability (as well the additional effects of these spells noted above). During Item Crafting, is only available to Wizards possessing at least Spellbooks, while requires books instead. Otherwise, they may not be selected for enchanting. Of course, it is always possible to be offered an item by Merchants that already possesses one of these traits (finding them in Encounter Zones typically imposes much worse Spellbook requirements in v1.31, as listed in the articles of these Item Powers). The Weapon Immunity ability bestowed by items is transient: it will disappear if the Hero ever removes or loses the enchanted item. Lycanthropy and Werewolves This is not a true method of adding Weapon Immunity to an existing unit, but should be mentioned nonetheless. is an Uncommon Spell, that is a unique mix of a Summoning Spell and an Instant Spell. When cast on a friendly Normal Unit on the overland map, it will permanently turn that unit into . After transformation, the are essentially an entirely different unit - which possesses Weapon Immunity among its many other abilities. Therefore, instead of actually adding Weapon Immunity to a Normal Unit, it replaces the unit entirely with - who always possess Weapon Immunity. Still, when fighting enemies relying primarily on Normal Units without access to Alchemists' Guilds (as will always be the case with Raiders, for example, or opponents relying heavily on Mercenaries), a bunch of may fare better against them than most Normal Units, thanks primarily to Weapon Immunity. Known Bugs Due to a coding error in the official versions of the game, Weapon Immunity has no effect against attacks, despite the fact that it is supposed to. For example, a level Barbarian Spearmen unit will barely hit with its Melee Damage. On the other hand, its attack will have fairly high chances of inflicting to them anyway. This bug is fixed in the Unofficial Patch 1.50 (W152FIX.TXT). Unfortunately, the combination of this patch with Insecticide's flawed fix of the next bug has an unintentionally drastic outcome with regards to attacks versus Weapon Immunity (when it applies). In the official game, if a unit with Weapon Immunity also possesses Missile Immunity, the unit's Defense will only be raised to against normal , instead of the expected , as Weapon Immunity mistakenly overwrites the stronger ability in this case. The unofficial patch 1.40 fixes this bug, but introduces a new one in exchange: when Weapon Immunity is applied against non-Melee attacks, it will raise Defense to instead of its usual . This will affect any or attacks and, in v1.50, attacks, made by units with . This bug is, in turn, fixed in v1.51 (W637FIX.TXT). Finally, Weapon Immunity has no effect against attacks made by "generic" units (Triremes, Galleys, Warships, and Catapults), regardless of Attack Type. Yet, it does work against the same attacks made by Air Ships, Steam Cannons, and Golems. This oversight is also corrected in v1.51 (W635FIX.TXT).